Dinosaurs ruled the earth for 65 million years. They may have managed it because they had small brains. They didn’t possess enough grey matter to imagine how to tinker with their environment. Homo sapiens used theirs to disrupt the planet. So many changes are far from good. Look at the mess Mark Zuckerberg made for himself and 2.2 billion internet users with his intent to monetize friendship. (“Another Great Quarter for Facebook,” by Sarah Frier et al, Bloomberg Businessweek, August 6, 2018, pg. 24.)

His experience shows having good intentions won’t keep us out of a pickle. Of course, some of us don’t have good intentions. Recently, The Washington Post laid out evidence of Russia’s attempts to help Donald Trump win the 2016 Presidential election. No one is surprised. The Wall Street Journal says Russia has been attacking our grid for some time. Recently, they entered the control rooms of some U. S. utilities.

Problems can’t always be laid to our brains, however. Even bigger obstacles occur when we think with our gut. Susan Sarandon, a Hollywood actress, comes to mind. She used her bully pulpit in the last election to discredit Hillary Clinton. If Bernie Sanders didn’t win the Democratic nomination, she admitted, she’d consider a vote for Donald Trump. He’d bring about a revolution faster than Hillary Clinton, she said.

She was right about that, and I hope she’s happy with Trump’s accomplishments. Frankly, I don’t much care for what he’s done. Worse, I see little difference between Sarandon’s truculent frame of mind and that of Tea Party members. Like her, they won’t tolerate slow progress. They want what they want and they want it now!

Unfortunately, only lightning and quantum physics moves at a speed the politically righteous demand. Maybe politics needs more elementary school hall monitors to tell everybody to “slow down.”

Ordinarily, people’s ambitions don’t bother me unless, like Sarandon’s, they prove a disaster. Take Swedish model, Natasha Crown, for example. She wants the world’s largest butt, and, at 294 pounds, she’s eating her way to success. With over 100,000 followers watching on Instagram, she devours 15 jars of Nutella each month. (“Best Columns,” The Week, August 10, 2018, pg. 12,) Her doctor might be horrified but I’m okay with it. I’m not the one who needs to upgrade to a larger bikini.

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens. She also published the story Gustav Pavel, a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.